MORLEY enter the new year, well aware they are the team to be shot at as they try again to play their National Three North fixture at Penrith on Saturday (2.15pm).

The forecast is not good and the game could be in doubt but the Maroons are preparing thoroughly just in case things do go ahead.

The squad trained indoors on Monday and will do the same tonight but then coach Peter Seabourne aims to have them training outside on New Year’s Day to shake off any possible excess of celebrations.

He explained: “We have to do that. It isn’t that I don’t trust them to look after themselves on Thursday night but we need to get some practice outdoors to sharpen them up and Friday is the most suitable day.

“We are top of the league and that means everybody wants to have a pop at us. If we don’t prepare properly, we are going to struggle and one of our key assets this time has been the fitness and ability to last both the full game and any time that is added on.”

Morley will be without Will Nutbeen, who is away, while Sean and Peter Dadswell are on a skiing holiday, but the rest of the squad are available for what is likely to be a keen test.

The absence of Sean Dadswell could mean another call-up for assistant coach Scott Benton, who invariably settles in quickly when brought into the side.

Penrith will pose a lively new year challenge. They are by no means out of the running for a top-two spot and showed their mettle when they took the Maroons all the way before losing only 12-8 at Scatcherd Lane early in the season, when Simon Bradshaw and Liam Frost got the tries.

Penrith have invariably produced that sort of form throughout the campaign, proving a very awkward team to beat, particularly on home soil, and they will be very keen to end Morley’s impressive run of 13 successive league wins.

But the Maroons have invariably risen to this sort of challenge on their travels and it seems likely the team’s defensive strength will again be a key factor. They continue to have easily the best record in the league in this respect with only 145 points conceded in 14 matches and no club is within 60 points of this tally.

Saturday’s game marks the start of a varied month of fixtures with rapidly-improving Rochdale due to visit next weekend and visits to Rossendale and bottom-club West Hartlepool as well as a massive home game against second-placed Stockport.

It all suggests an interesting second half of the season and there is no doubt that the last 12 months or so have seen a vast improvement in the fortunes of the club and the quality of rugby has delighted the regulars with some exciting matches and the players showing a welcome refusal to accept defeat, no matter how late in the game.

But, as Seabourne recently pointed out, the side have yet to win anything.